Last week, a Silicon Valley company that rents exotic vehicles got a call from a new client who wanted a $240,000 sports car for pick-up at the small airport in Santa Rosa. The firm complied, sending a bright orange 2012 McLaren Coupe from San Jose on the back of a truck.

It turns out the man who was given the keys was no Wine Country jet-setter. He was Mohannad Halaweh, a 19-year-old who lives with his parents, brother and sister in a modest Rohnert Park tract home, according to authorities who call him a scheming teen with a history of conning his way into the high life.

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Halaweh stands accused of using stolen credit cards to rent the coveted sports car as well as rent a $12 million vacation villa amid the vineyards of Glen Ellen, where police said he threw a lavish party a day after picking up the McLaren. He faces eight felony counts of auto theft, credit card fraud and identity theft, and sits in jail in lieu of $1 million bail.

"He liked to live that high-rolling lifestyle at just 19 years old," said Sgt. Michael Raasch of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office. "He wanted to look like more than he was."

Previous incidents

Halaweh is also being investigated for allegedly using a bogus credit card to rent a vacation home outside the city of Sonoma in December.

There, Raasch said, the young man hosted a blowout that the cops shut down due to noise and reported gunshots - a bash his Facebook friends called the "best party ever." Halaweh already faces charges of providing alcohol to minors in connection with the Dec. 29 event, and more counts could be added.

Halaweh was arrested again March 8, this time on suspicion of using a fake credit card to try to buy 10 iPhones and two MacBook Air laptops at the Apple Store on Fourth Street in Berkeley. He was caught before he made it out of the door, according to court documents. He pleaded guilty this month to one count of theft and faces sentencing in July.

Mom defends him

Prior to his legal troubles, Halaweh was perhaps best known for being a standout basketball player at Analy High School in Sebastopol. Reached Tuesday, Halaweh's mother, who asked that her name not be published, called her son a "good boy" who doesn't always listen.

"My kid is a good kid," she said. "I understand his age. We don't always like what he does."

That Halaweh was allegedly able to pull off flashy con jobs and impress his friends, at least briefly, represented a confluence of the ease of the Internet and some clever plotting, authorities said.

"He was smart in some aspects but stupid in others," said Raasch.

According to police and witness accounts, someone called Club Sportiva, which rents automobiles such as the Lamborghini Murcielago and the Rolls Royce Ghost, and purchased a $13,000 gift certificate using what appeared to be a valid credit card on May 31.

The next day, Halaweh allegedly cashed in the gift certificate, ordering the McLaren for a purported friend and asking that it be delivered to the Sonoma County airport on June 2. He put a $5,000 deposit down for the weeklong rental on another credit card in a different name, said Sia Bani, president of Club Sportiva.

"It's normal practice for us to take phone orders and deliver vehicles to people," Bani said.

Accounts differ on how the car was handed off to Halaweh. Bani said the person who delivered the car to the airport checked identification, but investigators said they're not sure that happened. In any event, Halaweh allegedly drove off in the McLaren.

Conspicuous car

"You would think that someone trying to get away with a crime would go with something less conspicuous," Bani added, noting that the orange color is probably the brightest model the company makes.

The McLaren came to the attention of authorities last Wednesday when a manager at a Food Maxx store in Santa Rosa called police to say the pricey car was oddly parked at the discount grocery overnight. Police notified Club Sportiva, which initially said the car was legitimately rented - but soon learned that the credit card used to pay for the car was bad.

Halaweh was stopped Wednesday evening in the McLaren in Santa Rosa and taken into custody, police officials said. They said his passenger, 19-year-old Nhimia Kahsay of Santa Rosa, was arrested on outstanding warrants alleging fraud.

Detectives later linked the credit card that was used to buy the Club Sportiva gift certificate to the $27,000 mansion rental in Glen Ellen. Officers broke up an unruly party there last Tuesday - and reported seeing the McLaren leaving. Halaweh admitted to leaving the vacation property, authorities said, but not to renting it.